This week in the Commons, I congratulated Novartis and the County Council on the progress they have made on the Novartis site. We all want good jobs created in the town which are “future proofed” - driving innovation. The rising levels of UK employment (over two million new jobs created) is one of the great successes of the last few years.
This success has been reflected in Horsham. Figures released this week revealed that in December 2015 there were 355 people looking for work locally and receiving “Job Seekers Allowance” (down from 430 a year before). However whilst the number on Employment Support Allowance (who either cannot work or need support to do so) has been falling it represents five times that number.
Visiting Horsham Job Centre Plus the picture is broadly positive. Their emphasis is on providing skills to assist people in getting into sustainable jobs (including through new training being made available in partnership with Central Sussex College). Horsham is especially focused on what they can do to help those who have been out of work for a protracted period. It is much harder to get back into work if you have had a long period of time out of the workforce. In some cases it is simply a question of skills – most over 50 never had a single IT lesson when going through school – applying for a job “on line” may involve unfairly stumbling at the very first hurdle.
As so often information gleaned supports my Select Committee role. Universal Credit which is being brought in to replace a complex range of benefits has already been introduced on a limited basis in Horsham. Fedback from advisors about the Benefit (which should make it easier to transfer into work) is largely positive. However the feedback on some of the practicalities was concerning and need to be fixed as its roll out progresses.
The staff I met had a real sense of mission – its no wonder that Horsham has been celebrated as the best performing office in the region.